A Different Path
A Ranma / Sailor Moon crossover
Part Two
By Raye Johnsen
'Ranma 1/2' is owned by Takahashi Rumiko, Shogakukan, Kitty Films, and Viz Communications. 'Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon' is copyright Takeuchi Naoko, Kodansha, Mixx Enterprises, DiC Entertainment, and others. In other words, NOT ME. He who sues this university Arts student is very unwise, because I have no money.
Before we begin...
It is not possible to simply pick oneself up and move in Japan. The bureacracy, legal procedures and residential qualifications required to establish residence preclude this. The Author is aware of this. However, the Author asks that the reader please ignore this fact.
For one thing, Sailor Pluto's handling it.
For another, we are talking about a world where the Hiryuu Shouten Ha is physically possible, where a girl regularly changes between being a kitten and a human without Very Strange Things happening to her overall body mass, where people change clothing and are suddenly able to manifest fire from their fingertips by holding a stick up in the air and/or shouting very silly phrases, and where a boy can hide a large potty and several very heavy chains under his coat and still present a slender silhouette.
In other words, please leave your disbelief at the door.
Chapter Two: Now, Let's Find The Yellow Brick Road....
Kuonji Ukyou gently shooed the last of the Sunday-morning breakfast crowd out of her restaurant. It was, of course, nice that her regulars kept turning up for their okonomiyaki fix, and it certainly didn't hurt her purse any. She didn't run the cheapest okonomiyaki-ya in Tokyo, but she definitely didn't serve the nastiest okonomiyaki in Tokyo.
(That particular honour belongs to Akito's Place, in the Shibuya Ginza. Which also has its own special clientele. You know the sort - the people who will buy the nastiest food they can find simply because it is the nastiest. They never seem to suffer from indigestion or food poisoning either.
(No Yakuza eat at Akito's, by the way. Ukyou, on the other hand, has a long-standing policy of not asking where her clients get their money from as long as they pay their bill. Yakuza value good food and their health.)
The postman came by just as she was gently pushing old Matsuura-san out the door.
"Pretty girl like you, ought to be out on a date on a Sunday," Matsuura-san was telling her. "Now, my grandson Yuu, he's a good-looking boy and he'd make a girl a fine catch."
"I'm sure," Ukyou agreed, with an amiability she didn't feel. "But I thought you said he already had a girlfriend?"
"Miki-chan? Honestly, I don't know from one week to the next whether they're together or not!" Matsuura-san replied, waving her walking stick for emphasis. "Still, she does keep him on his toes, which is always good for a boy. Especially such a little brat like Yuu-kun was turning into."
The old woman turned and began to move down the street. "I don't know. First they're dating and then they're not and he's going to college in Kyoto, and now they are but he's still in Kyoto, and I don't understand younglings these days!"
Shaking her head at the garrulous old lady, Ukyou stepped into the restaurant.
"A letter for you, Ukyou-sama," Konatsu said from where he was earnestly bussing the counter. "Not a bill, I've already separated them out."
"Thank you, Konatsu-san," Ukyou said calmly, beginning to scrub her grill. Letters might come and bills would arrive, but her grill was her life. As long as it was in perfect condition, anything else could be cured or endured. Whichever. Her business was her bark in the stormy seas of survival; her grill was her sail. It had to be the best she could make it.
When it was scrubbed to her satisfaction, she wiped down the benches and rehung the tools Konatsu had scrubbed with the china plates (expensive but classy, and popular with older customers).
Now she could indulge her curiosity and read her letter.
It was handwritten, confirming that it wasn't a bill. All the suppliers she dealt with had computers.
(Which reminded her. Ucchan's was doing well enough to keep herself and a waiter and there was a little bit left over each week. A computer to do the accounts on would be good - a secondhand one would be adequate and wouldn't cost that much. Less than Ran-chan's tab, for sure.)
The thought of Saotome Ranma gave her a small pang. If only he had chosen! If only he had chosen her....
Their forgiveness had been balm in the wounds of her pride and blindness. Akane's, especially. Ukyou had been stripped of her illusions as she watched the wedding dissolve into chaos and seen how very angry all the participants (and would-be participants, and obstacles) became. She knew very well that Ranma had only really forgiven her her part in the debacle because Akane had. Tendou Akane might have been angry, but she never carried grudges; and Ukyou honestly didn't think the girl even knew how to hate.
Did she love Saotome Ranma? Ukyou didn't know. She had thought she did; but the man who had stared at her with hatred in his eyes over the wreckage in the doujou wasn't one she knew. Nor was he a man she was altogether sure she wanted to know. Much less marry.
Akane, however, had walked over to that man and touched his arm. She had known him.
If she gave up on Saotome Ranma, though, she was truly alone. Her family would never take her back, with or without a husband. Her claim on Ranma was the only link to any kind of family she had. Not to mention honour, or any kind of femininity. But was he worth it?
Ranma lived and breathed martial arts. And Ukyou... well... didn't. She could fight, yes, but there's a difference between those who fight and those who battle. Ukyou was not prepared to cross that line, and Ranma couldn't see that there was one.
If she let Ranma go, Ucchan's and Konatsu would be all she had. The question was, was a small restaurant and a young gender-confused waitperson/companion enough?
For several months now, a quiet voice in the back of her mind had been whispering that yes, it would be; and infinitely better than anything Saotome Ranma could give her.
Ukyou didn't know what scared her more: the fact that she'd been having these kind of thoughts, or her growing conviction that the quiet voice was right.
With a sigh, she slit the envelope open and began to read her letter. As she read it, she was glad she was sitting down.
Dear Ukyou,
You and I have never really spoken, have we? I like to think that if Ranma had really chosen (instead of being compelled by duty) or if he had never been, that you and I could have been friends.
But maybe it always was impossible, friendship between the 'uncute fiancee' and the 'cute fiancee', and I'm just kidding myself.
Either way, the question is now moot. You see, I've finally come to the realization that I'm not needed here in Nerima.
I admire and respect you, for your strength and determination in the face of the world, and your refusal to give up on your goals.
I love Ranma, Ukyou. I know you do, too, and honestly, he doesn't love me. I'm quite sure of that. Whether he loves you, I don't know.
You won't see me around anymore. I've left Nerima and I will never come back. And so, Kuonji Ukyou, I charge you: take care of Saotome Ranma. Protect him as I did not. Love him as I always should have. Be the fiancee he deserves.
If we ever could have been friends, please, do this for me.
With respect and friendship,
Tendou AkaneUkyou clenched her hands on the paper.
Akane was gone? Akane had just left? Akane had QUIT? She stood up suddenly, crumpling the paper in one fist.
"Konatsu-san, we're going out for a short while," Ukyou told the hovering kunoichi.
"Ukyou-sama, where are we going?" Konatsu asked, untying his apron strings.
Still clutching her letter, without bothering to take off her apron, Ukyou reached out and gripped his wrist. "The Tendou Doujou," she replied tersely, walking out of the restaurant.
By the end of the block, she was running. Konatsu gave up trying to free his wrist without breaking Ukyou-sama's fingers (she had grabbed him rather awkwardly) and ran along. It wasn't very fast by his standards, but then, Ukyou-sama wasn't a kunoichi.
"The world is a dark and lonely place," Hibiki Ryouga tried experimentally.
It didn't work. In his current mood, there was no way he could generate the Shi-Shi-Hokoudan.
It was annoying but somehow cheering in a way he couldn't quite understand. Everything was good, and the sun shone on this bright Sunday morning as he wandered along the fenceline of the Unryuu Pig Farm. The birds were singing, the trees were growing, the traffic was gridlocked....
Traffic....?
Horns blew and people swore at each other as Ryouga stared around him. Traffic lights flashed and neon burned on the street, despite the fact that it was daylight.
Ryouga spun on the spot. Now he could have performed a Shi-Shi-Hokoudan without any problems at all.
"WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW?!?!"
"Nerima, Ryouga."
The flat voice behind him was quietly familiar. "Ranma? Last I remember I was at Akari's farm."
Ranma rolled his eyes. Wonderful. How did P-Chan do it? Find a girl, get the girl and keep the girl. You'd think it would have been easy if Ryouga could do it.
"Well, I think it's about fifty miles that way," he said, arbitrarily pulling direction and distance from thin air.
Instead of heading off, Ryouga kept standing in front of Ranma.
"Didn't you hear me, Ryouga? It's that way. Go home, P-Chan," Ranma snapped, waving in an entirely different direction.
"What's wrong, Ranma?" Ryouga asked quietly. "You're acting really weird."
At that point, Kuonji Ukyou ran in the gate of the doujou. She was waving a piece of paper in her fist and dragging that cross-dresser she had hired. "Ran-chan?!" she panted. "Is it true?! Akane's run away from Nerima?!"
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY?!?"
Ranma sighed. "Hi Ukyou."
"UKYOU, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN 'AKANE'S RUN AWAY FROM NERIMA'?!?"
"Shout a little louder, Ryouga. I don't think they heard you in Hokkaido," Ranma interjected.
"I just got this letter! It's from Akane! She says she's left!"
"Gimmie that!" Ryouga demanded, reaching for the letter Ukyou still held. Ranma snatched it first and began to read.
His eyes bugged at several points and as he reached the final paragraph, he began to swear softly. Ukyou didn't recognise some of the more obscure words, especially the Chinese ones, but the tone he used left no doubt of the overall meaning.
Eventually he lowered the paper. "Akane, you idiot," he murmured, watching Ukyou grimly.
Ukyou swallowed. She glanced at Konatsu, idly rubbing his wrist and looking at the three friends. She glanced back at Ranma, and then at Konatsu again. She sighed.
"Yes," she replied. "She is." Stepping away from the two martial artists, she moved over to her kunoichi. Taking his wrist gently in her hands, she began to massage the joint she'd gripped so hard. "I'm sorry, Konatsu."
The kunoichi glanced over at Ranma and back at Ukyou. "That's all right... Ukyou."
The girl who now called herself Kaneda stared at the ceiling above the futon.
Makoto-san had been extraordinarily kind, insisting on her returning with her to Makoto-san's own apartment. Usagi-san and Ami-san also had come with them, although the other two girls had left after Makoto-san had rolled out the spare futon for A... Kaneda. Kaneda. She was Kaneda, now. Not A... who she'd been. And the sooner she got into the habit of thinking of herself as Kaneda, the better.
She sniffed the air and smelled frying fish. It was a delicious scent, and her stomach informed her, loudly, that she hadn't eaten since early the evening before, and only lightly then.
"Breakfast, Kaneda-san?" a voice called from the kitchenette.
Kaneda sat up immediately. "Oh, yes," she replied brightly. Straightening the futon as she climbed out of it, so that it would be easy to pick it up and air it later, she climbed out to answer Makoto and her stomach.
Usagi felt worried as she got up that Sunday morning. Not about school or Mamo-chan or anything else she was used to. She almost wished Chibi-Usa were still in her home; a fight with her 'cousin' would have been familiar and reassuring.
Kaneda-san was an enigma, and even an idiot would have seen that "Kaneda" wasn't her real name. She wasn't a Senshi (Rei-chan would have known), she wasn't an enemy (Mako-chan would have known), and she wasn't ordinary (or she wouldn't be worrying Usagi like this).
What she was, though, was... bereft.
Usagi blinked as the word floated into her mind. It had not come from that part of herself that she classified as 'Serenity', which was unusual. Usagi was used to getting images and hints from her past self. This time, however, the idea was all her own.
Kaneda-san had lost everything to her own insight in less than a day. She had nothing left except a small suitcase and her own self. So now she had to rebuild.
Usagi decided that heading over to Mako-chan's after breakfast might be a good idea.
Ukyou insisted on helping Ranma pack.
"Don't you have any cooler bags?"
"You eat off the land, Ukyou," Ryouga commented from where he was leaning against the wall of the doujou.
"What do you carry supplies in?"
"You buy dry supplies," Ranma told her.
"What do you grease your pan with?"
"The body fat of the animal you caught to eat. Unless it's a possum, theirs tastes horrible. Snake's all right."
Ukyou rocked back on her heels from where she was bent over Ranma's backpack. "Does snake really taste like chicken?"
"Nope," Ryouga replied glumly. "Tastes like snake."
She gave him a very flat look. "I'll go talk to Kasumi-san about your supplies." Standing up, she walked out of the doujou. Ranma closed the door behind her.
"Why did you say that?" he asked. "Now she's convinced that we're going to be starving. And that snake tastes horrible."
Ryouga shrugged. "It got rid of her, didn't it? And it's not like she wasn't coming."
P-Chan." Ryouga glared right back. "You think I'm letting you go off to find Akane-san all by yourself?"
"..."
"You can just forget it. You lost her once already. Plus, you already said 'we'."
Ranma shook his head. "'S not that. 'S just... hell, Ryouga! She left me!"
Ryouga snorted. "You think?"
"Whaddya mean 'you think'? Nobody held a knife to her throat..."
"You showed me your letter an' Ukyou showed me hers. An' if they weren't in Akane-san's handwriting I wouldn't've believed she'd written them. They ain't 'her'."
Ryouga looked at him. "I've spent a lot of time with Akane-san," he said. "She used t'tell P-Chan an awful lot. Cried on me too, sometimes. About you." Ranma looked down.
"Anyway, Akane-san would never've said what she said in those letters. She'd have said goodbye, but actually admitting she loves you? Asking someone else to marry you? Never happen, not in a million years. Not if she was saying it for herself."
Ranma was looking at the Lost Boy with dawning comprehension. "You think she's been kidnapped and the kidnapper made her post these letters to put us off the scent."
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Dammit all to HELL!" Ranma burst out. "Who would kidnap Akane?"
Ryouga lifted an eyebrow. "Do you want an itemised list, or can I get away with saying 'lots'?"
Ukyou reappeared at the door of the doujou. "Kasumi-san says that Akane had been listless all yesterday afternoon. So I think that she probably decided to go yesterday and she just left last night."
"She got hypnotised on the way home from school!" Ranma announced. "It's the only explanation! Now we just have to find where she stopped... oh no...."
"What? What?" Ryouga demanded.
"Yuka-san and Sayuri-san. They're the two biggest gossips of Furinkan High, and Akane's best friends. They'd know..."
"... and the second we say anything to them, it becomes immediate public knowledge," Ukyou finished. "But there's nobody else to ask."
"That's our first stop, then," Ryouga confirmed.
Meiou Setsuna paused outside the doujou, listening to the tail end of the conversation within.
Yuka-san and Sayuri-san... those two girls that had been with Nadeshiko-chan. No, she was safe. They wouldn't remember anything but a conversation between Nadeshiko-chan and a shop assistant. One that wasn't that long, either.
That was one of the things about being a Senshi. When you had all your power under your complete control, it was remarkable how little was really needed for any given task. Even one as important as this.
The three teenagers left the doujou, heading out of the gate. Now was her chance to quietly slip in and pick up the book, tying up that loose end. But before she moved into the house, she took a moment to notice the dark green highlights in the pigtailed boy's hair.
Over such oversights does Destiny trip and fall flat on Her face. For Setsuna had not heard any but the last part of that conversation.
"Hello!" called a bright voice from the entryway.
"Come in, Usagi-chan," Makoto-san welcomed, without turning around from the miso she was stirring. "You're just in time for breakfast."
Kaneda saw a literal blur fly across the room over to the table, resolving itself into a slender girl with long blonde pigtails and bright blue eyes. She hadn't seen anything like that since Ra....
She jerked her mind away from the memories. She would not think about it. She would not remember him, or his skill, or his glorious blue eyes.... She would not. And she would not cry, either....
It was a very good thing for Kaneda that Makoto-san chose that moment to serve breakfast. Sliding the freshly-cooked fish, toasted seaweed and sweet rice in front of her guests and setting their miso down before them, she sat down. "I'm sorry it isn't very much - this is my market day," she apologised. "My pantry is not very well stocked by Sunday."
Kaneda nodded. "I understand perfectly," she assured her quietly. "It was the same for...." She stopped, and took a deep breath. "For someone I knew once," she finished sadly.
Both Usagi-san and Makoto-san nodded calmly, knowing better than to press her for details, and breakfast continued.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Usagi-san decided to try some conversation. "So, Mako-chan, are you going to the temple this morning?"
"Yes, I'd planned to go later," Makoto-san replied, grateful for this opening gambit. "I wanted to ask Rei-chan about a few things."
Kaneda perked up a bit at this. "Rei-chan? Do you mean Hino Rei-san, that I met last night?"
"Yes," Usagi-san said. "She lives with her grandfather at the Cherry Hill Temple. She's the priestess of the temple."
"I could use a blessing, and a good-luck charm," Kaneda murmured. "May I accompany you?"
Usagi-san and Makoto-san traded looks that Kaneda recognised all-too-well, saying without words that she would be doing what they wanted her to. "Of course," they chorused, proving her suspicions. Oh well, it wasn't like she had very much planned, anyway.
The youma popped into existence in a corner of Juuban Park.
It wasn't a very intelligent youma. To be fair, very few youmae are. But this one was dim even by their admittedly lax standards. As evidenced by its choice of place and time of materialization.
Logic indicates it needed a reason to be there, and despite the creature's disdain for logic, it did indeed have one. Specifically, it was there because the place was dangerous.
As previously stated, this creature did not have much respect for logic. It did, however, have a great deal of respect for its superiors' abilities to keep benefits for themselves, rather than passing them down the chain to hardworking subordinates - such as itself. One tactic it knew they used was the spreading of rumours about girls called 'Sailors' and how one should stay away from their territories.
Nothing so blatantly ridiculous could possibly exist, it knew, so these 'Sailor Worlds' had to be areas kept for the upper-ups to enjoy. Well, it was going to enjoy them now.
It blinked in the bright sun. Midmorning in Juuban Park on a Sunday was a lot sunnier than it was used to. Not to mention louder.
The people of Tokyo are not dumb, and the people of Juuban, having been youma-fodder for the past four years, had become very skilled at pattern-recognition. It was only those few who had been born without any self-preservation instincts whatsoever who did not now have the pattern 'eight-foot-tall vaguely-feminine oddly-coloured creature = DANGER, reaction = RUN' etched on their subconscious.
Consequently, what had been a calm and peaceful park, if somewhat overcrowded with young families, dating couples and relaxing teenagers, was now a rapidly-emptying mob pit.
The youma didn't care too much. The panic just added an enjoyable taste to the energy...
"What on EARTH are you?" a voice demanded.
It turned to face a party of three teenagers. Two, one with long blonde pigtails and one with a high, brown ponytail, were backing away. The third, with short black hair, was watching it curiously.
The youma roared - it had never managed to get the hang of speech - and charged.
That was its fourth mistake.
Kaneda had been walking across the park with Makoto-san and Usagi-san, watching curious children embarrass all the courting couples and asking Makoto-san about the flowers in the flowerbeds, to stave off less pleasant topics of conversation.
People suddenly panicking and sprinting for the exits wasn't what she'd call common Sunday-morning behaviour. Moving against the tide, she pushed her way towards the source, half-noticing Usagi-san and Makoto-san following her.
The tall blue woman with neon orange hair and electric pink clothing was not what she was expecting. So she asked what was, to her, the obvious question.
"What on EARTH are you?"
The woman swung round. Her eyes, Kaneda noticed in passing, were neon green. She growled and charged.
There was no way to dodge that charge. It was fast and it was hard, and Kaneda braced herself for the impact, readying her fists. At the last second, she thrust out a fist, aimed at the creature's solar plexus.
Ranma would have seen that a mile away and moved, she thought, dazed, from her seat on the ground where the force from the youma had knocked her. The youma itself lay on the ground in front of her, apparently unconscious. Kaneda shook her head and started to get up....
... only to have her feet knocked out from underneath her.
Huh?
The youma staggered to its own feet, a triumphant grimace twisting its features, despite the fact that one of its arms hung uselessly by its side. Kaneda stared, dazed, up at it.
The youma punched at her again, with its good arm. Kaneda woke up from her daze in a hurry and rolled to the side, dodging the youma's attack. It roared in frustration as Kaneda slammed it with a solid knee kick, and it went down like a set of skittles.
Kaneda gave herself a small grin. Knee kicks weren't glamorous, and weren't often used, but there was no way to stop going down if you were hit by one. And if it hit you the wrong way (or the right way, depending upon your opponent), it'd crush your kneecap and you couldn't get up again.
Kaneda sincerely hoped that she'd hit the monster the wrong way.
Unfortunately she was out of luck. The youma staggered to its feet, roared again, and started a limping charge towards her.
Grinning, Kaneda waited till the creature had come too far to stop, and then stepped to the side. Whereupon she got clocked by the youma's fist and sent spinning into a tree.
Usagi and Makoto ran over to her. Kaneda-san was dazed and seemingly unconscious. They looked at each other, and at the injured youma. "No powerup and no special powers, and she badly hurt that youma," Makoto breathed. "What is she?"
"Our friend," Usagi replied. "MOON ETERNAL POWER, MAKE-UP!!"
Makoto shrugged. "JUPITER STAR POWER, MAKE-UP!!"
The youma swung around, to be confronted with two girls, dressed in skimpy leotards with extremely short skirts and lots of ribbons, with sailor collars.
Over under the tree, Kaneda opened her eyes. The picture before her swayed blearily.
"You monster! You have attacked a girl with no provocation, causing her to be injured! I am Sailor Moon, the Champion of Justice, and for this crime, in the name of the Moon, I will punish you! MOON TIARA ACTION!"
Kaneda watched, somehow unable to disbelieve her eyes, as Sailor Moon took off her tiara. It shimmered into a glowing ring, which she then flung at the monster. With its first touch, the monster shivered and then transformed into a shape made of silvery powder, which then lost its cohesion and fell to the ground. Pumice stone, she thought for no apparent reason. Like the dust on the Moon.
Sailor Moon and the other Sailor walked over to her.
Kaneda blinked. "Makoto-san. Usagi-san. I don't feel so good."
Sailors Moon and Jupiter looked at each other.
"Hold, foul cur! What is this tale that hath reached mine ears? Is it true that the beauteous Akane hath shed thy spell and fled thy side, even unto the howling wilderness?"
"Hello, Kunou," Ranma said flatly. "Somebody's stolen Akane again. We're hunting him down. Feel free to get lost."
The dark-haired boy with the bokken waved said bokken in the air dramatically. Alas for the sake of melodrama, none of his audience were of a disposition to appreciate it. "The tale that was carried to me stated that the fair Akane had fled of her own accord."
Ryouga, who had only encountered Kunou in passing and in the usual 'get-Ranma-NOW' mobs, poked Ukyou. "Who's he?" he hissed.
"Hold, but who is this? A stranger, who has not yet had the pleasure of meeting my noble self? So then, I shall introduce myself to thee! I am Kunou Tatewaki, scion of the noble House of Kunou, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School, aged seven - no, eighteen, for I celebrated my natal day last week. And thou, sir?"
Ryouga blinked. "Uh." he began intelligently. "Um, I'm Hibiki Ryouga, um, of the, um, well, of the Unryuu Sumo School, I guess."
Ukyou blinked. "The Unryuu Sumo School?" she said incredulously. "You do sumo?"
Ryouga gave her a flat look. "No, I defeated Akari's Katsunishiki, and he was the champion. So when I accepted Akari's hand, I became the head of the school."
Ranma tilted his head to one side. "So you're really engaged?"
Ryouga sighed. "I love Akari," he said humbly. "And she loves me too. I'm very lucky."
Kunou, meanwhile, had been processing the information. "So! Thou hast a betrothed, one Akari, also of thy School?"
Everyone jumped at this sudden reminder that Kunou was still standing in front of them.
"Yes," Ryouga replied, and then his eyes narrowed. "You're not going to fall in love with her, are you?"
Kunou looked down his nose at the shorter Ryouga. "Nay, good sir, for the Pig-Tailed Girl and the fair Akane-san hold all of my heart. Besides, I can see that thou art a doughty warrior, well-deserving of the heart of a maiden, unlike that cur Saotome. I could well believe that the sweet Akane-san hath fled from him, forasmuch as he hath held her and the the Pig-Tailed Girl by his side in durance vile, bound by his enchantments. I wept full tears of joy when I did hear from wise Nabiki-san that Akane-san had shed her chains and flown from his side and e'en now I search for her, that I might shelter her from the storm in my arms - and the Pig-Tailed Girl, too, for the kindhearted Akane-san would not leave her sister in torment to the cruel attentions of that vile enchanter."
Ranma, Ryouga and Ukyou all stared at Kunou. Finally, Ukyou pulled herself together. "Great lungs he's got," she muttered, saying aloud, "Ah, well, I'm not sure where the Pig-Tailed Girl is, but we're pretty sure that Akane-san was kidnapped. There were signs in her bedroom -"
"Kidnapped? She did not flee, but someone wrested her from the Sorcerer Saotome's side?!" Kunou demanded, his eyes alight. Ranma groaned and covered his eyes with his hand.
Ukyou ignored the warning signs. "Yes, she -"
"She lies in the hands of a greater evil than Saotome, who for all his faults at least never denied me the sight of my love! Fear not, my sweet Akane-san! I will find thee and free thee, and when thou art finally free of all enchantments and durance vile, shalt thou give thyself unto me, and I shall bend myself ever to thy happiness! I swear it!" Kunou shouted, gesturing at the heavens with his bokken. On cue, his trademark thundercloud appeared, crackling with thunder and lightning and dripping rain.
Ranma and Ryouga ran for a nearby storefront, narrowly escaping the rain and activation of their curses. Ukyou, slightly slower on the uptake, stared at Kunou for a stupefied second, and then sprinted after the boys. The three sixteen-year-olds peered out from under the awning at the rain and the maniac yelling how he would save his Akane-san.
"Ukyou, what were you thinking?" Ranma demanded. "You know what he's like!"
"He's got money," Ukyou argued. "Kunou on our side equals a secure financial base."
"You know, like this he looks a lot like that Kodachi girl who attacked Akane while she was learning rhythmic gymnastics," Ryouga commented.
"He's her older brother."
"Oh."
Kaneda, Usagi-san and Makoto-san climbed the steps to the Cherry Tree Temple.
Makoto-san had been rather dismayed to find that Kaneda had recognised them. Apparently it wasn't common.
"But you look the same," Kaneda had argued. "Your hair's the same, the colour of your eyes and skin doesn't change, and you've got the same figures. Surely lots of other people have noticed!"
Usagi-san had smiled suddenly. "No, they haven't. But don't worry about it. Come on, Makoto. Let's all go to the Temple."
So they were all walking up the hill, when Kaneda looked up and saw Rei-san sitting on the top step, watching them. "Sailor Mars...." she said softly.
Rei-san stiffened. Makoto-san and Usagi-san exchanged glances.
"Rei-chan," Usagi sang, "can we come in? We've got something I think we need to tell you...."
"She's not a Senshi," Rei declared two hours later.
"But only other Senshi have ever been able to recognise us in our transformations and disguises," Usagi maintained. "She recognised Mako-chan and I in our transformation. She recognised you from newscasts! Kaneda-san has to be one of us!"
"I have to agree with Rei-chan, Usagi-chan," Ami chimed in. "I've scanned Kaneda, Rei-chan's purified her with the Fire, and Michiru-san's viewed her with the Mirror. Kaneda is an extraordinarily pure soul, on a level with one of us, but she is not a Senshi. She's just an ordinary girl."
All of the Senshi, except for Pluto, had heeded Usagi's request to come by the Cherry Hill Temple and help her work out this puzzling new problem.
"No," said Haruka quietly, watching out the door, where Kaneda was sitting behind the counter of the fortune-selling booth. She'd volunteered for it when Rei had said she was supposed to be looking after it that afternoon. With Kaneda behind the counter, all eight of the Senshi and Mamoru felt free to sit in the Fire's chamber and discuss her. Dressed in one of Rei's priestess-robes, nobody knew she wasn't a priestess herself. "Kaneda-san is not 'just' a girl."
"I agree with Haruka-papa," Hotaru added quietly. "She isn't a threat, but she isn't 'normal' either." She frowned. "Her aura feels like Michiru-mama and Haruka-papa's auras."
Minako lifted her head. "Like Senshi?" she asked.
Hotaru shook her head. "No. Like - I don't know how to describe it. Like someone prepared to - no, who expects to endure pain. Someone who works for the best but expects to pay for it, and the payment is going to hurt forever. I think that's what I mean. I don't know the word I'm looking for -"
"It's 'warrior', Hotaru-chan."
Everyone looked up to see Setsuna standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry I'm late; I had some errands to run," the senshi of Pluto said easily, slipping into her place in the circle. "It is Sunday, and the traffic was horrendous."
"Do you know -"
"- about our visitor out there? Yes." Setsuna smiled enigmatically.
"So what is she?" Makoto burst out.
"Hotaru told you. She is a warrior." Setsuna sighed. "She is a warrior from a line of warriors, and she is not the best of her line. She is adequate, even excellent, but she was among extraordinary warriors, and her skills were negligible in comparison. Nor did she feel cared for, which might have compensated - all people need to feel that they are important, needed, or at least valued." Setsuna smiled. "The story that she told you last night is true - she does have a temper and she does jump to conclusions very easily. She does feel alienated from all her previous friends."
Mamoru stared over at Setsuna's carefully blank expression. 'She does', hmm. What about what those friends think?
"She's got a kind heart," Makoto said quietly. "Maybe she does have a temper, but she volunteered to do Rei-chan's job without a second thought."
"She can stay here," Rei said firmly. "I saw her fend off Grandpa, without hurting his feelings either. And Grandpa and Yuuchirou-san are used to a girl with a temper around the place - another won't be any adjustment at all."
"Or with me," Mamoru volunteered. "I think I'd like a younger sister."
"She can't stay with you, Mamoru-san!" Ami interjected. "You've only got a studio apartment!... or so Usagi-chan says," she added, blushing, when everybody stared at her.
"How about Mamoru-san adopts her, legally, and she lives here with Rei-san?" interceded Michiru.
"Why don't we see what Kaneda-san thinks?" asked Usagi.
At that point, Kaneda knocked on the door. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I don't think there's going to be any more people for a while, and I'm very curious. What am I?"
"An ordinary girl, apparently, who puts two and two together correctly," Haruka told her. "I'm -"
"Sailor Uranus, right?" Kaneda smiled. "I've always thought you were really cool, the way you could just kick all those monsters' butts."
"How could you tell?" Haruka asked.
"Well, it's lots of little things," Kaneda said consideringly. "For one thing, your hairstyle's the same - not many girls wear it that short. And you're tall, which is also unusual. You stand like Uranus, with your arms like that. Also, the way you're standing next to Saturn - you are Sailor Saturn, right? - you stand that way a lot too. It's no one thing, it's every thing. You're Uranus. And if you throw that punch, you're going to be off-balance and I could break one of your ribs on my retalitory strike. So please don't, okay?"
Michiru giggled.
"Michi!" Haruka protested, and turned back to Kaneda. "How could you tell I was preparing to slug you?"
Kaneda shrugged. "Your stance. You were shifting your weight, tensing your arm and swinging your shoulder back a bit. When you know what to look for, it's easy to see. Kind of like the way I can see that you're all the Senshi, and he's Tuxedo Mask."
Makoto brushed froward. "Can you teach me how to do it?"
"Of course, if you really want me to. I'm not really good, not like -" Kaneda paused, swallowed, and continued, "- some other people who do martial arts, but I can teach you the basics."
"May I, too?" Mamoru joined in. "We were discussing your future, and I think I'd like it a lot if you'd let me adopt you - little sister."
Kaneda blinked up at him. "You want me for a little sister? But you don't know me! You don't know a thing about me! I could be an axe murderer!"
Everyone laughed. "I'll take that risk," Mamoru replied. "So you'll be Chiba Kaneda?"
"No." Looking out the window, the girl suddenly smiled and then looked back at everyone around the room. "I'll be Chiba Nadeshiko. If that's okay."
"Why 'Nadeshiko'?" Ami asked.
Nadeshiko reached over the porch and pulled up two weeds that had taken root between the cobbles of the courtyard. They were pink nadeshiko. Smiling at the rest of the room, she replied, "Because I believe in omens."
Setsuna nodded calmly, and pulled a bundle of official forms out of her purse, putting them down on the floor. The first was a notice of an official name change, that Tendou Akane was now legally known as Chiba Nadeshiko. The second was a copy of the family register, registering Chiba Nadeshiko as a member of the Chiba family, and Chiba Mamoru's younger sister. The third portion was paperwork relating to the closure of Tendou Akane's bank accounts and a new one belonging to Chiba Nadeshiko. Finally, the last bundle were transfer forms from Juuban High School, registering Chiba Nadeshiko as a new student.
Usagi looked at them, and then at Setsuna. "Setsuna-san!" she said reprovingly.
Setsuna lifted an eyebrow. "I told you I'd had to run some errands," she replied. "What took the time was making sure the records were untraceable. As it is I've had to leave shopping for Nadeshiko's new uniform and schoolbooks to you." She rose to leave. "Nadeshiko-chan?"
"Y-yes, Setsuna-san?" Nadeshiko replied shakily, staring at the papers on the floor.
"I, too, should like to attend those martial arts lessons."
"You will be welcome," Nadeshiko replied.
"Thank you." And she was gone.
Author's Notes:
1. I prefer the manga ending of Marmalade Boy to the anime ending. Although similar in outcome, the major difference relevant here is that in the manga, Yuu went to Kyoto, not America.
2. While I am not nor claim to be any kind of an expert on the Shinto religion, my research indicates that while priests can and do perform many of the ceremonies of the religion, the primary religious personage is the priestess of the temple. A fully-trained priestess will perform all the ceremonies a priest can as well as several that only the priestess is allowed to perform.
Therefore, a Shinto person would be more concerned with the presence of Rei at the temple, and her expertise, than with her grandfather and his. She is the priestess of the temple, and as she is fully trained, her grandfather is, in religious matters, her subordinate.